Based on the 1950 film noir by Billy Wilder, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tony Award-winning production, set in late 1940s Hollywood, tells the story of fading silent movie star Norma Desmond, played by Ria Jones, who hires a young, impoverished screenwriter to help stage her comeback.

Rich, vain, deluded and the dictionary definition of growing old disgracefully, Norma proves the perfect sugar mummy for the oleaginous writer Joe Gillis, played by Strictly Come Dancing’s Danny Mac - or so he thinks - until he meets the 22-year-old Betty, played by Molly Lynch, whose declaration of love for him he cannot resist taking advantage of.

The first half feels, despite excellent performances all round - the singing, acting and diction in the songs are all superb - a little wearing. This is largely due to the absence of virtually any dialogue and an early scene in the mansion between Norma and Joe that is simply too long.

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Even in the final scene when she commits a heinous crime, his feelings for her are as strong as ever, Pearce maintaining Max's defensive armour until the very last moment, when it shatters, you feel, forever.

Ria Jones' acting is wonderfully nuanced and although the part would be all too easy simply to ham up in the extreme, she is careful never to let slip the essential vulnerability behind that formidable vibrato.

All in all, the show is the perfect dramatic blend of love story and parody, holding up a mirror to the toxic nature of the film industry and setting the action against a famously catchy score, exquisitely rendered by Adrian Kirk's orchestra.

The visual effects are stunning too, the footage of cars going past on the street outside and the silent films playing in the background all adding to the pathos.

Just a little more dialogue interspersed with the highly accomplished singing would have made it even better.